Bottle breaker



ocr. 27, `1942.

M. H. JoHNsToNE BOTTLE BREAKER Filed Sept. 12, 1939 f Patented Oct. 27,1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE BREAKER Myron H. Johnstone,Cicero, Ill. Application September 12, 1939, Serial No. 294,528

` 6 Claims. (Cl. 83-93) My invention relates to bottle breakers and aimsto provide an exceedingly simple, inexpensive,4 durable and practicaldevice by which a liquor bottle of substantially any size may be brokenby a simple and easy movement without danger to the person holding thebottle or to others and with a minimum production of broken glass.

Federal law requires destruction of liquor bottles emptied in bars,restaurants and the like. Destruction of the bottles and disposition ofthe broken glass has lo-ng presented a real problem which has notheretofore been satisfactorily solved. The prior art provides a numberof bottle breaking boxes and cabinets, but they are invariably of largesize, fairly involved and therefore relatively costly mechanism,difficult and time-consuming operation, and productive of largequantities of broken glass, and have therefore nevel-achieved anynoteworthy degree of recognition.

An object of this invention is to provide a bottle breaking device ofsmall size, neat appearance, low cost, great ease and simplicity ofOperation, and which is devoid of moving parts and which willeffectively destroy a bottle of any size Within the whole rangenow inuse without producing more than relatively minute quanties of brokenglass, and which can be used to destroy a bottle without subjecting theoperator or bystanders to any danger.

Another object is to provide a bottle breaker which is admirably adaptedto be used as an advertising medium.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will suliiciently appearas the specification proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates by way of exemplicationmerely, and not by Way of limitation to the specic features there shown,a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is e, perspective View, drawn substantially to full scale, ofthe breaking element of the invention, together with a base for mountingit;

Fig. 2 is 'a top pian View of the element and base;

Fig. 3 is a sideelevational View of the element and base; and

' Fig. 4 is a side elevational view, partially broken away to show theinterior, of a complete embodiment Vof th'e invention, comprising theCII illustrating the manner in which the device is used.

Referring now to the drawing, I provide a bottle breaking elementdesignated generally I, preferably made in the form of a at blade ofapproximately trapezoidal shape. In the form shown, the element isconveniently fabricated from heavy metal plate stock, by die stamping,drop forging or otherwise. Since the element I is the wear-receivingpart of the device, it is best made of hard or hardened steel. Thesimplicity of the element and the small amount of material required forit render it inexpensive even when high grade metal is used; the sameconsiderations of course make for very low replacement cost if lessdurable material be employed. The choice of material and mode offabrication obviously form no part of the invention. For example, castiron may be substituted, particularly if the element be formed withradial, sloping ribs, so as to be of generally conical or pyramidalshape instead of i'lat as shown in the illustrated embodiment of theinvention.

The function of the element I is to exert destructive wedging expansionin the neck or lip from the bottom of the element toward the topthereof. While both side edges may slope equally, so that the element isof isoceles triangle shape in side elevation, with or without its vertextruncated, I prefer to make the element substantially trapezoldal inside elevation, with one side edge vertical and the other side edgesloping at a steep angle. The numeral 2 designates the vertical sideedge, and 3 designates the sloping edge The top edge 4 may be normal toth'e vertical edge. In other words, the vertex of the triangle may beremoved so that the truncated ligure is trapezoidal. There are certainadvantages in fashioning theelement with a flat upper edge 4 rather thana` point. Every bottle Yto be broken, even the smallest, 'has an orificeof some appreciable diameter; hence the upper end of the element I willt every bottle if its upper edge is just short enoughtobe less than theinternal diameter of the smallest bottle orifice. By beginning the slopeof the side edge 3 from the transverse edge 4 rather than from anintersection with the vertical edge 2, the slope of the edge 3 may bemade steeper, so as to increase the mechanical advantage and the powerof the wedging Yforce in a bottle'thrust down on the breaking elementmounted Within a casing, and 55 element, thusmini'mizing th'e thrustingforce ref.

quired. Moreover, the fiat edge 4 obviously lacks the dang-er to theoperator that would be presented by a sharp point.

The element or blade I is preferably mounted within a casing 5, whichmay assume any convenient form. I prefer to use a cylindrical metal canlarge enough to provide sufficient clearance all around the element toreceive the neck of the largest bottle that is to be broken. Anacceptable casing is shown in Fig. 4, and comprises an open toppedcylindrical side wall 6, having its open upper edge trimmed andstrengthened by an inturned bead l. The bottom of the casing may beclosed by a cap 8 covered by a pad 9 of felt or the like to avoidmarring the surface of a bar or the like on which the device may bepositioned and to contribute to the stability of the device by providinga, slight degree of friction. The cap may be removably connected to thecasing side wall by registering threads IG or the like formed on both.

To mount the element I in the casing I may employ a base Il for theelement, and the ele ment may be made fast on the base by spot weldingcr otherwise securing to the base a pair of ears I2 oppositely struckout from the lower edge of the element. The base is best made in theform of a circular disc small enough to iit snugly within the cap 8 andlarger than the adjacent lower end of the casing side wall S, so thatthe disc will be clamped between the parts B and 8 of the casing whenthese parts are screwed or otherwise connected together. The arrangementis clearly shown in Fig, 4.

The casing 5 is preferably so proportioned with respect to the element Ithat the top edge 4 of the element lies well below the open top of thecasing when the parts are assembled.

In use, the device is Set upright on a bar cr any other horizontalsurface, and an empty bottle I3 which is to be broken is simply thrustdownwardly into the casing so that the upper end of the element Ipenetrates the bottle neck. The same motion that introduces the bottlemay be continued, or the bottle may be given a gentle blow with the palmof the hand, and the wedging force of the element in the bottle neckpromptly splits the glass at the lip, all as clearly shown in Fig. 4.The bottle is thus effectively destroyed and thereupon discarded.

In some cases a portion of the glass neck will, by the operation justdescribed, become detached from the rest of the bottle and will fallinto the casing. This detached portion is small, although amply adequateto run the bottle and unfit it for 1 re-use. The casing is large enoughto receive many such detached portions, and when the casing becomes toofull for convenient continuance of operation, it is a simple matter todump it, conveniently into the sa-me waste bin into which the destroyedbottles have been discarded.

In many cases, however, liquor bottles are sealed by a fairly resilientor elastic sheet of Celluloid, plastic or like material which encasesthe cork or cap and extends over the lip of the bottle f.'

and well down around the neck. When the necks of such bottles are splitby my device, there is almost invariably no detachment of glass from thebottle. Frequently the sealing sheet does not tear, but merely expandsto accommodate the split neck. Even when the sheet does rupture, thebreak lies along a single line, and the split away portion of glass willbe found adhering to the sealing sheet which holds it hinged to theremainder of the bottle neck. This kind of bottle ISI) destructionleaves the bottle ostensibly intact and capable of being handled evencarelessly without danger, yet effectively destroyed and incapable ofbeing re-used.

It will be obvious that the co-st of the device, even when made of thebest materials, can be kept very low. In fact, production costs caneasily be kept within the range of costs of such advertising devices asbottle openers, beverage shakers and the like, which are commonlydistributed to bars and restaurants by liquor manufacturers. It istherefore contemplated that the device may be distributed as anadvertising novelty, with advertising copy carried on the casing 5. Thereal utility and efficiency of the device and its neat appearance,combined with thefrequent necessity of putting it to use in anestablishment doing even a moderate amount of business, assure its beinggiven a prominent position on the bar or .back bar, where itsadvertising value will be considerable.

While I deem the invention broadly new and basic in its essentialcharacteristics, so that numerous modifications may be made within thespirit of the invention and .within the scope of the broader of theappended claims, certain specific features of the illustrated embodimentare important and advantageous in contributing to the low cost, longlife, efficiency and general practicability of the device, and I havetherefore included claims to various of these specific features. All theclaims, however, are t0 be construed as broadly as may be permitted bytheir express terms and the state of the prior art'.

I claim:

1. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding flat blade havingconvergingly related side edges adapted to exert destructive expandingforce in the neck of a bottle forced down about the blade, integral earsturned out right angularly from the long,r lower` end of the blade, andmeans for mounting the blade on a horizontal plane surface comprising abase directly engaged with and secured to said ears for mounting theblade with its narrow `end uppermost.

2. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding flat blade havingconvergingly related side edges adapted to exert destructive expandingforce in the neck of a bottle forced down about the blade, a base discconnected to the long end edge of the blade, a casing for the bladecomprising a side wall for enclosing the blade and having an open topand a lower edge seated on the marginal edge of the base disc, and abottom cap for the casing secured thereto and holding the disc againstsaid casing edge.

3. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding element havingconvergingly related side edges, a base disc connected to the long endedge of the element, and an open topped casing comprising a side wallenclosing the blade and a bottom cap secured to the side wall andcooperating therewith to clamp the base disc.

4. A bottle breaker comprising an open topped casing, a cap for thebottom end thereof, and an element xedly mounted upright on the cap,extending upwardly within the casing to a point adjacent to the open topthereof spaced sufficiently from the casing to admit a bottle neck overthe element and within the casing, said element having upwardlyconvergingly related side edges, adapted to exert destructive wedgingpressure within the neck of a bottle thrust downwardly about the same,

5. A bottle breaker comprising :al` casing open at both ends, a capremovably connected to the bottom end of the casing, and a bottle neckexpending elernent having an outwardly extending base clamped betweenthe cap and thebottom end of the casing and extending upwardly in thecasing.

6. A bottle breaker comprising a, cylindrical casing open at both ends,a. cap threaded on one end of the casing, and a bottle neck expandingelement clamped between the cap and the adjacent end of the casing andextending upwardly in the casingl MYRON H. JOHNSTONE.

